In an era of NSA snooping, email hacking and rampant identity theft, the specter of poorly protected student data strewn throughout cyberspace and being sold to the highest bidder has caught the attention of privacy advocates and, now, policymakers.

In a rare expression of bipartisanship, two congressmen last week introduced a bill to modernize student privacy protections for students.

Advocates on all sides acknowledge that student privacy fears are well-grounded, but there are also strong voices at the table urging that the student privacy protection rules be not so aggressive that they would unduly limit the valuable use of personal data in the classroom, or the use of aggregate data that could help improve teaching across the board.